Media Rise Festival Committed To Meaningful Media Takes On D.C.
This month, Conscious Magazine is headed to D.C. for the Media Rise Festival hosted by Media Rise, “a global nonprofit volunteer-driven alliance that connects people and ideas to promote meaningful media.” With a mission to “empower people to create meaningful media that promotes universal human values such as compassion, empathy and respect,” Conscious 100% aligns with the organization’s values and purpose, which is why we’re excited to introduce you to the person whose spirit and hard work is bringing this conversation to the forefront among creatives, influencers, change-makers, and more in the D.C. area.
- Creatives, like filmmakers, photographers, writers and artists, who produce high-quality media but may not know how to use their media to drive social impact.
- Changemakers, like nonprofit advocates, government leaders or activists, who have a very worthy mission but may not know how to tell their story effectively to get people to support their cause.
- Businesses, like PR agencies, advertising firms and news organizations, who hold a lot of money and influence in creating media but may not be using their resources in the most positive way.
- Academics, like educators, researchers and students, who hold a lot of knowledge about media’s impact on society but may not be sharing their findings with relevant audiences.
1. From the beginning of human history, stories define our culture and beliefs. In short, they create our reality. We have the power to shape the world we want through the stories we share on various forms of media. And we have to choose whether to use that power positively or negatively.
2. Mediamaking creates meaning. Things happen, and we interpret them. We tell and re-tell our experiences in order to make sense of them. Because of this expressive and reflective nature, media—in whatever form—can become a forum for community organizing, dialogue, activism and social action.
3. We no longer rely on the “one-to-many” model of content distribution. “Mainstream” media doesn’t really exist anymore. Instead, we have many people sharing to many more audiences, who are all receiving and contributing information at the same time, so the potential for extremely targeted messaging is unprecedented. When we want to use media to mobilize around a specific social cause, it becomes easier than ever to find a niche and build a community. The challenge is learning how to unite fragmented communities across disparate networks with a credible and authoritative voice—that’s when movements begin.
4. Traditional news organizations are still relevant and necessary, but regular citizens are also realizing the value of real-time, user-generated media. As we’ve seen, a single tweet or mobile video can spark a whole news cycle and raise awareness about a previously unknown thing. As media consumers, we’ll need to hone our literacy skills to determine fact from fiction, and put things in context, or else be distracted by sensationalism or misinformation, in our fight for social justice.
5. Creating socially conscious media is only the start of initiating social change. The next step is figuring out what to do with that media. If it’s a film, what do we want our viewers to do? If it’s a news article, what do we want our readers to know? If it’s a performance, how do we want our audiences to change? In other words, how do we move from raising awareness to inciting action? It takes strategy, partnerships, influencers and outreach.
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FROM THE EDITOR
At Conscious, we are inspired by remarkable people and organizations and so we set out to tell stories that highlight human interests, global initiatives, innovation, community development and social impact. You can read more stories like this when you subscribe.